Monday, September 30, 2013

EVICTING SEA LIONS

Pebble still in play

The proposed Pebble mine could become the largest open-pit mine on the continent, and the Environmental Protection Agency figures it could wipe out nearly 100 miles of streams and thousands of acres of wetlands.

Slow start in Bristol Bay salvage

Big run: Dams still must go

A record fall run of Chinook salmon is heading up the Columbia River – more than any year since the Bonneville Lock and Dam was built in 1938, impeding natural access to the prized fish's traditional spawning grounds and stirring a controversy that has yet to abate.

Anglers pay for gillnet prohibition

The price bump is a tit-for-tat in which sports anglers who would be allocated more salmon and steelhead help to pay for increasing hatchery fish for the off-channel areas where commercial gillnetting would continue.

Halibut plan will hurt anglers

Claims that all will be hunky dory next summer for Alaska's halibut charter fisheries is not an assertion that came from the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, the sole angler representative on that federal council told a group of state legislators.

American Seafoods sells line

American Pride mostly provides branded and private label products to foodservice customers in the commercial and independent restaurant, health care and education markets, as well as doing some export business and sales to U.S. retail markets.

More radiation leaks

Tokyo Electric Power Co., operators of the crippled Fukushima nuclear facility, said that around 4 tons of rainwater contaminated with low-level radiation leaked during an operation to transfer the water between the tank holding areas.

Changes in Tongass plan

Tongass sale delay

U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester Beth Pendleton wrote that the sale needs to be reconsidered because of a statement from a former state biologist who says the Big Thorne timber harvest would wreak havoc on the wolf-deer ecological dynamic on Prince of Wales Island and possibly lead to extinction of the island's wolf population.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

SPORTIES PAY FOR GILLNET BAN

The fee of up to $9.75 a year (or $1 tacked on to the cost of a one-day license) is part of a package adopted by the Oregon Legislature that would phase out the use of commercial, non-tribal gillnets on the main Columbia channel.

Lodge charged with poaching

A Southeast Alaska fishing and lodge company is facing criminal charges after a trooper camped out near the lodge for two days and observed lodge employees violating numerous fish and wildlife regulations, including the intentional feeding of black bears.

Two Cal fishermen innocent

Two Santa Barbara brothers accused of violating federal laws related to a no-fishing zone off San Miguel Island beat the charges when a federal judge determined that the government presented insufficient evidence to prove the crime.

Friday, October 4, 2013

SALMON BOULISM FEARED

Big Blue Fisheries of Sitka is recalling all of its vacuum-packaged smoked salmon and cod products because they were not properly cooked and may be contaminated with Clostridium botulism, the bacteria that cause botulism.

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week: How the federal shutdown is affecting NOAA Fisheries and the National Weather Service. Thanks to Obamacare, being a fisherman is no longer considered "a pre-existing condition." And, we have the latest in our on-going series of stories about people smuggling fish in their pants.

Harvest in warm Superior

Lake Superior's chilly waters used to be too cold in most spots for walleye to live, but, spurred by warmer runoff and less ice, the lake has warmed far faster than predicted over the last five decades.

Tahoe crayfish harvest

Climate could worsen water wars

Researchers believe climate change will impact the availability of water across the West. And when that happens, conflicts among farmers, ranchers, and other water users can only increase, an expert in water law predicts.